Bracewell helps Southern Brave to maintain unbeaten start as Jofra Archer chimes in with 2 for 16 from his 20.
Bracewell, du Plooy humble Phoenix to maintain Brave’s perfect start.
At Utilita Bowl on Sunday, Southern Brave easily defeated Birmingham Phoenix by nine wickets to earn their second victory of the season in The Hundred, completing a double for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Early on, it appeared that the Brave’s decision to bowl after winning the toss was wise because Phoenix was having trouble getting the ball away and scoring runs. With 36 off 27 balls, Joe Clarke was the only Birmingham batter to put up a fight against Jofra Archer’s 90 mph bowling, who was wearing a Brave bucket hat when he wasn’t rushing in.
Michael Bracewell stole the show with his off-spin on a challenging pitch, taking three wickets for 16 runs from 15 deliveries, while Archer finished with 2 for 16 off his 20. Phoenix’s final score of 106 for 7 was below average.
James Vince and Leus Du Plooy opened for Southern Brave with a right-hand-left combination, and the two hardly appeared bothered as they rotated the strike and picked up boundaries.
The Brave had time to build through their innings, even though they ended the powerplay with the same score as Phoenix. Vince took advantage of this and became the third player this season to reach 1,000 runs in The Hundred, behind Phil Salt and Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Meerkat Match Hero Bracewell said: “Two from two and more of a complete performance. We played some great cricket and it is nice to get another win. We spoke as a spin group about how to bowl. There are big boundaries here which is nice.
“The Hundred is fantastic, the crowds are amazing. Cricket has a long history here in England so it is great to be here. The weather is not what I was expecting, but I’ll certainly take it. It’s a beautiful day and we’re happy with the result.”